View source for Wikipedia:SVG help

{{see also|Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Resources/SVG|Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Illustration workshop}}
[[Category:Wikipedia image help]]
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<span style="font-size:120%">SVG help</span>

[[Scalable vector graphics]] is a commonly used file format for providing a geometrical description of an image using basic objects such as labels, circles, lines, curves and polygons. An image can be reduced or enlarged to an arbitrary size, and will not suffer image data loss, nor will it become pixelated. SVG makes an excellent format for artwork, diagrams and drawings. SVG images are defined in XML text files. This means that they can be searched, indexed, scripted and, compressed. Since they are XML files, SVG images can be edited with any text editor, but SVG-based drawing programs are also available.

However, the rendering engine used by wiki is not perfect, and may cause the image to be shown incorrectly, or differently from how it is displayed in your [[List of vector graphics editors|vector editor of choice]]. This page enables authors experiencing problems with SVG graphics to obtain some help in getting their images into wiki the way they intend.

{{see|commons:Help:SVG|l1=Help:SVG}}

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<span style="font-size:120%">Things we can help with</span>
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----

'''Understanding SVG'''

* Questions about the SVG format

'''Using SVG appropriately'''

* When to (or not to) use SVG

'''What you see is not what you get'''

* Missing objects from files
* Random filled boxes in the image
* Images that are the wrong size
* [[m:SVG fonts|Font]] inconsistencies
* Other weird and wonderful bugs

'''Something new'''

* Questions that you can't find a better place for

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=== Common problems ===
 
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==== Testing for problems ====
The following SVG checkers may help you to detect SVG problems before you upload:
:* [https://tools.wmflabs.org/svgcheck/ WMF Labs SVG check]
:* [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:Commons_SVG_Checker&withJS=MediaWiki:CommonsSvgChecker.js Commons SVG Checker]
:* [https://validator.w3.org/#validate_by_upload w3.org validator]

==== flowRoot does not appear ====
[[File:Error-libsvgr-flow.svg|thumb|right|100px|a picture containing SVG1.2-valid flowRoot]]
{{tracked|T43424|Declined}}
If black box appear, read [[c:User:JoKalliauer/RepairFlowRoot]] how to solve this issue, but do not remove those objects since they might contain text.
The workarounds that one can employ are either not to use flowed text (by using the text tool without creating a text field), or convert the text to normal text (by [[c:User:JoKalliauer/RepairFlowRoot#replace_the_flow-text_by_<text>_using_(Text-Editor)|Text-editor or sed-comand]], or [[c:User:JoKalliauer/RepairFlowRoot#replace_notempty_flow-text_using_(Inkscape)|with Inkscape-GUI or with a Inkscape-batch]]), but to stroke the text using "object to path", since path-text is not recomended and increases file-size.

==== font-family issues ====
{{tracked|T180923}}
{{
multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | total_width = 550
| image1 = 20200522 SVG font rendering at different thumbnail sizes.gif |  caption1 = Rendering anomalies of small fonts in thumbnail views
| image2 = SVG_Text_Font_Test.svg | caption2 = Fallback fonts
}}
Due to copyright restrictions, [[Mediawiki|MediaWiki]] cannot use proprietary fonts that are commonly found on several proprietary operating systems. Fonts such as [[Geneva (typeface)|Geneva]] require licensing fees to distribute. rsvg will not be able to locate such fonts, and the text will fail to appear in the rendered image. There are three solutions to this issue:

* One can substitute a font that is [[m:SVG fonts|available on Wikipedia]]. This approach facilitates editability.
* One can specify a generic <code>font-family</code> such as "sans-serif", "serif", or "monospace", but this can lead to inconsistent rendering. It is better to specify a font available on Wikipedia (such as Liberation Sans) with fallback fonts such as: <code>font-family="Liberation Sans,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"</code>, in which you define a font-list with similar fonts that at least contain one font for each Operating System such as [https://noc.wikimedia.org/conf/fc-list Wikimedia] (e.g. Liberation Sans), Windows (e.g. Arial), Linux (e.g. Liberation Sans), Mac (e.g. Helvetica).
* Since local rendering should be as close as possible to Wikipedia, it should use locally the same font as it will have on Wikipedia, if available. Therefore always define a Wikimedia-font first. Also, Wikimedia has synonyms for substituting fonts, such as "Arial" for "Liberation Sans"; therefore <code>font-family="Arial,DejaVu Sans"</code> will be rendered by "Liberation Sans" and not (as expected) by "DejaVu Sans". (This is because "Liberation Sans" has the same letter size as "Arial" [metric-compatible], so it is less likely to mess up the text flow.)
* Converting the text into paths increases file size, and is therefore generally disfavored (except for text logos, etc.).
* Group the text, create a copy, and convert the copy to paths. Then either:
*# move the original, editable non-path text into a separate editable text layer that you make transparent (warning: this might be removed by SVG optimizers), or
*# move the original, editable non-path text outside the visible area (example: [[:File:Essigsäuresynthesen.svg]]). 

For ease of subsequent editing and significantly smaller file sizes, substituting the font with an available font is recommended. Many common fonts have non-proprietary alternatives that are similar in typographical style, resulting in minimal disruption to existing images during substitution. For a list of fonts available in Wikipedia, see [[m:SVG fonts|available fonts]] on Meta.

Wikimedia has default fonts, and will use [[Liberation Serif]] for [[Times New Roman]] and [[Liberation Sans]] for [[Arial]]. For further fallbacks see [[c:Help:SVG#fallback]].

Fonts that are available on Wikimedia servers may or may not be available on a visitor's machine. If the placement or appearance of text in the image is important and there is uncertainty about which fonts are installed on a visitor's machine, then converting text into path information may be necessary.

==== bad letter-alignment on small font-size ====
{{tracked|T36947|open}} 
[[File:Fonttest-Kerning.svg|thumb|[[phab:T36947]]]]
Librsvg calculates the letter-distances inaccurantly for font-sizes of 20px and below.

For a text like
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<svg viewBox="0 0 100 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
 <text x="20" y="30" font-size="5px">exampletext</text>
</svg>
</syntaxhighlight>
you can replace it with:
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<svg viewBox="0 0 1000 1000" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
 <text x="200" y="300" font-size="50px">exampletext</text>
</svg>
</syntaxhighlight>
or with
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
<svg viewBox="0 0 100 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
 <g transform="scale(0.1)"><text x="200" y="300" font-size="50px">exampletext</text></g>
</svg>
</syntaxhighlight>

==== Missing embedded JPEG images ==== 
{{tracked|T193929|invalid}}
{{multiple image
| align     = right
| image1    = Missing embedded JPG example 1.svg
| width1    = 100
| caption1  = Normal image
| image2    = Missing embedded JPG example 2.svg
| width2    = 100
| caption2  = Broken image
}}
When a [[Raster graphics|raster graphic]] is embedded in an SVG it is encoded into [[Base64|base64]] data. That data is then assigned a [[Internet media type|MIME type]] in the &lt;image&gt; element. In the case of an embedded JPEG, the MIME type is "image/jpeg". Older versions of [[Inkscape]] (and possibly other editors) assigned the MIME type "image/jpg". While Inkscape and most web browsers will display such an SVG image just fine, the MediaWiki software that rasterizes the SVG file will have trouble with it. Not recognizing the MIME type "image/jpg" there will simply be an empty space where the image is supposed to be. The fix is to open the SVG file in a text editor, find the &lt;image&gt; element, locate "image/jpg", change it to "image/jpeg" and re-save. At right is an example of this problem.
The Commons SVG Checker looks for this problem; see [[Commons:Commons:Commons SVG Checker/KnownBugs#Checks]] for details.

Though Web browsers cope with ''image'' tags without ''width'' and ''height'' specified, ''librsvg'' ignores such images.

==== arc flags ====
{{tracked|T217990|open}}
[[File:Latin_letter_Kĸ_(kra)_RSVG-BUG.svg|thumb|[[phab:T217990]]]]
If circle-segmentes are distorted it is often due to reduced spaces between arc-to-flags, see [[phab:T217990]] for details.

==== Further issues ====
Further issues can be found at [[:c:Librsvg_bugs]] or at [[:Commons:Commons:Commons SVG Checker/KnownBugs]], and examples can be found at [[:c:Category:Pictures_demonstrating_a_librsvg_bug]]. However most issues (for files <1MB) can be fixed using https://svgworkaroundbot.toolforge.org/ (enable "run svgcleaner" and enable "run scour" before clicking convert), for a more detailed list check [[:c:User:SVGWorkaroundBot]].

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===Rendering files===

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[[Mediawiki|MediaWiki]] (the software from which Wikipedia is run) uses the [[librsvg]]-library to [[Rasterisation|rasterize]] all of its svg files. The version of the rsvg program that is installed on wiki does not always correctly raster the Inkscape or OpenOffice.org SVG files, and does not recognize some formats in text-editor SVG files. The file manager [[GNOME Files]] or [[:c:Commons:Commons_SVG_Checker]] relies on librsvg, so it can be used to check the quality before a SVG is uploaded.

====Rendering Inkscape files====
There is a simple work-around for the scarcities of librsvg. The operation "Stroke to Path", to be found under Menu>Path in Inkscape or via {{key press|Ctrl|Alt|C}}, can be applied to all of the objects that are not rendered correctly. To keep the SVGs editable, this should only be done to the files intended for upload, and these files can be deleted afterwards.

As of February 2014, the objects that must be modified to render correctly by librsvg include:
* Lines with arrow heads (the arrows need to be converted)
* Text, that has been transformed, e.g. "Text on Path"
* Compound objects created with the binary path tools (union, intersect etc.)

====Rendering OpenOffice.org SVG files====

OpenOffice.org SVG files may require manual modification before being uploaded to Wikipedia. To achieve this:
* Change all fonts to Wikipedia supported fonts as mentioned before. (E.g. change "Sans embedded" to "DejaVu Sans".)
* Add "px" to all font-size references. (E.g. change "font-size:100" to "font-size:100px".)
* Remove all additional x coordinate references in <code>tspan</code> elements. (E.g. change <code><tspan x="17583 17917 " y="10943"></code> to <code><tspan x="17583" y="10943"></code>.)
* [Not required for OO 2.3.0] Explicitly colour all text (e.g. black) by replacing relevant "stroke:none;fill:none" instances with "stroke:none;fill:rgb(0,0,0)" (note that simply explicitly colouring text black in OpenOffice 3.2.1 does not appear to work).

NB: Vector graphics line widths may also need to be set explicitly in OpenOffice.org Draw.

=====SVG code replacement guide (executing replace all using Nedit regular expressions)=====

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Original text !! Replacement text
|-
| Sans embedded || DejaVu Sans
|-
| {{code|1=tspan x="([0-9]*) ([0-9 ]*)"}} || {{code|1=tspan x="\1"}}
|}

This SVG export procedure has been tested using OO 2.3.0 and OO 3.2.1 with a simple .odg candidate.

{{see|commons:Help:SVG|l1=Help:SVG}}

===Rendering text-editor SVG files===
SVG files created from scratch in a text editor may make use of any valid SVG syntax, so long as your browser supports the given version of the SVG specification. On Wikipedia however, SVGs are interpreted by the librsvg-library to create PNG previews at different image sizes. That library only recognizes a subset of all valid SVG syntax, and may render your SVG without many features. In order to bypass these deficiencies in the library, there are certain parameters that need to be formatted in specific ways or be assigned a workaround value in order for librsvg to accurately render views of your SVG file.

====&lt;mask&gt; parameter ''maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse"''====
The librsvg-library [https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T55899 does not interpret] the value of <code>"userSpaceOnUse"</code> for the parameter ''<code>maskUnits</code>'' correctly. To bypass this issue, replace <code>maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse"</code> with <code>maskUnits="-10% -10% 120% 120%"</code>, and the SVG mask will render properly on Wikipedia.

====parameter ''stroke-dasharray''====
The librsvg-library [https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T32033 does not accept] a ''<code>stroke-dasharray</code>'' parameter with values separated by spaces. Replace all spaces with commas to bypass this issue: e.g. <code>stroke-dasharray="2 3 2 4"</code> &rarr; <code>stroke-dasharray="2,3,2,4"</code>

====Use '''<u>xlink:href=</u>''', not '''<u>href=</u>''' alone, in {{code|<use ___/>}} statements====
In Wikimedia projects, '''<use <u>xlink:</u>href="#myobjectname" transform="translate(10 10)" />''' will render properly if you have specified  '''<nowiki>xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"</nowiki>'''. Be aware that '''href=''' by itself will not work on Wikimedia projects even though it might render properly if directly read by your browser.

====CSS selectors or identifiers must start with a letter or hyphen====
http://w3.org/TR/css-syntax-3 states, "Property names and at-rule names are always identifiers, which have to start with a letter or a hyphen..."
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{{User:RCraig09/Excel to XML for SVG}}
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==Assistance==

If you have a tricky SVG file with a problem not described, or can't quite figure out what the previous section was talking about, you can simply ask for assistance by [[Special:NewSection/{{FULLPAGENAME}}|posting a quick note hereafter]] that outlines the problem, as well as providing links to the files that are exhibiting these problems. Don't forget to sign your name with four tilde symbols (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>) and an editor will attempt to reply here to help!

When you are happy that a request has been fulfilled, just leave a note so that the request can be archived later, as needed.

An alternative source of help is [[Commons:Commons:Graphics village pump|Commons:Graphics village pump]].

= Current requests =
{{Archive box|[[Wikipedia:SVG help/Archive 1|1: April 2008 – July 2008]] <br/>[[Wikipedia:SVG help/Archive 2|2: July 2008 – February 2009]] <br/>[[Wikipedia:SVG help/Archive 3|3: February 2009 – May 2010]] <br/>[[Wikipedia:SVG help/Archive 4|4: May 2010 – November 2010]] <br/>[[Wikipedia:SVG help/Archive 5|5: February 2011 – January 2013]] <br/> [[Wikipedia:SVG help/Archive 6|6: January 2013 – September 2017]] <br/> [[Wikipedia:SVG help/Archive 7|7: October 2017 – February 2020]] <br/> [[Wikipedia:SVG help/Archive 8|8: February 2020 – present]]}}

[[Special:NewSection/{{FULLPAGENAME}}|'''Create a new request''']]

== Grid making thumbnail very dark at small sizes ==

[[File:bird_mortality_blocks.svg|thumb|left|200px|<nowiki>Dark at 200px</nowiki>]]
[[File:bird_mortality_blocks.svg|thumb|360px|Better at 360px (left faces still black)]]
Hi SVG experts,

Though the grid in my diagram is white, it is rendered as black at thumbnail sizes under 324px. Would anyone know how to fix the problem for small thumbnails?

Thanks,<br />'''[[User:cmglee|cm&#610;&#671;ee]]'''&#9094;[[User_Talk:cmglee|&#964;a&#671;&#954;]] 02:33, 15 November 2021 (UTC)<br clear="left" />
:{{ping|cmglee}} Might it be related to [[:c:Librsvg_bugs#Pattern]] and [[c:User_talk:TilmannR/Archive#librsvgBug_pattern]]{{hp|TilmannR}}?  — [[User:JoKalliauer|<span style="font-family:Trendy, Tempus Sans Itc;">Johannes</span>]] [[User talk:JoKalliauer|<span style="color:black; font-family:Monotype Corsiva;">Kalliauer</span>]] - <small>[[Special:Contributions/JoKalliauer|contrib.]]</small> 10:41, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
::Thanks, {{u|JoKalliauer}} I'll check out your links to see if there is a workaround. '''[[User:cmglee|cm&#610;&#671;ee]]'''&#9094;[[User_Talk:cmglee|&#964;a&#671;&#954;]] 22:10, 27 November 2021 (UTC)

== Electoral College Map ==

I would really appreciate it if one of you wonderful experts could make a map similar to this one...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/2021_US_Electoral_College_objections_map.svg

....except for different colors for different states. I would like to see a map where most of the states are green (#A9FAAD), but all of the following states are yellow (#FFE4E4) - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

[[User:Capisred|Capisred]] ([[User talk:Capisred|talk]]) 23:56, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:{{ping|Capisred}} Can you ask again at [[Wikipedia:Graphics_Lab/Map_workshop]]? This page is for issues on existing SVG files with the thumbnail renderer. Thanks, '''[[User:cmglee|cm&#610;&#671;ee]]'''&#9094;[[User_Talk:cmglee|&#964;a&#671;&#954;]] 02:10, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

== [[:File:Brondby IF logo.svg]] ==
Hello!

I managed to workaround this problem, see [[:File:Brøndby IF.svg]]. I still just want to know why it renders so weirdly. When I press "Edit SVG" using [[c:User:Rillke/SVGedit.js]] the browser rendering is exactly as it should but the RSVG rendering isn't. Opening the file in Inkscape also just makes it all black. Any clues why?[[User:Jonteemil|Jonteemil]] ([[User talk:Jonteemil|talk]]) 03:51, 19 November 2021 (UTC)
:{{ping|Jonteemil}} I've fixed the SVG by renaming CSS class names starting with underscores to "blue" and "yellow". http://w3.org/TR/css-syntax-3 states, "Property names and at-rule names are always identifiers, which have to start with a letter or a hyphen...". Is the thumbnail fine now? '''[[User:cmglee|cm&#610;&#671;ee]]'''&#9094;[[User_Talk:cmglee|&#964;a&#671;&#954;]] 00:19, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
::P.S. You've uploaded another version at [[:File:Brøndby_IF.svg]]. What's the difference? '''[[User:cmglee|cm&#610;&#671;ee]]'''&#9094;[[User_Talk:cmglee|&#964;a&#671;&#954;]] 00:35, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
::{{re|cmglee}} Thanks for your answer. The version at [[:File:Brøndby_IF.svg]] is as I said my workaround by using a different method for extracting the SVG.[[User:Jonteemil|Jonteemil]] ([[User talk:Jonteemil|talk]]) 08:16, 23 November 2021 (UTC)
::: Ok, I've replaced uses of [[:File:Brøndby IF.svg]] with [[:File:Brondby IF logo.svg]] which doesn't have the Inkscape crud. '''[[User:cmglee|cm&#610;&#671;ee]]'''&#9094;[[User_Talk:cmglee|&#964;a&#671;&#954;]] 22:16, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
{{resolved}}

== Not rendering but only on wikipedia ==

Can someone take a look at this file [[:File:Youth Law Australia logo.svg]], I can not get it to render on wikipedia, but it renders everywhere else. Even on the [[Commons:Commons:Commons SVG Checker|Commons SVG Checker]]. And even in  the file history of the same file, but only when the file is not the current version. I really don't understand the wikipedia rendering engine. [[User:Auguel|Auguel]] ([[User talk:Auguel|talk]]) 21:16, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
:Ok it now seems to be rendering, so I guess this is resolved, but my understanding of the engine has gone down. [[User:Auguel|Auguel]] ([[User talk:Auguel|talk]]) 00:05, 30 November 2021 (UTC)
{{resolved|[[User:Auguel|Auguel]] ([[User talk:Auguel|talk]]) 00:05, 30 November 2021 (UTC)}}
::{{ping|Auguel}} Next time try [[c:Template:Purge_client_cache]]  — [[User:JoKalliauer|<span style="font-family:Trendy, Tempus Sans Itc;">Johannes</span>]] [[User talk:JoKalliauer|<span style="color:black; font-family:Monotype Corsiva;">Kalliauer</span>]] - <small>[[Special:Contributions/JoKalliauer|contrib.]]</small> 10:32, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

== Text rendering in infobox or commons page ==

Hello, I hope this is the right place. I made and uploaded a [[c:File:Azomures_(photography_industry)_logo.svg|vectorial file]] and it doesn't render the text properly. I transformed the text into "path" as it should. Instead of showing the black text in bold letters, it looks simple and less scattered as it should be. The correct version is only visible when you click to see it at [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Azomures_%28photography_industry%29_logo.svg the real resolution]. Does anyone know how it can be solved?--[[User:Kun Kipcsak|Kun Kipcsak]] ([[User talk:Kun Kipcsak|talk]]) 16:48, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

:{{ping|Kun Kipcsak}}
:*[[#font-family_issues]]
:*[[:m:SVG_fonts]]
:*[[:c:Help:SVG#fallback]]
: — [[User:JoKalliauer|<span style="font-family:Trendy, Tempus Sans Itc;">Johannes</span>]] [[User talk:JoKalliauer|<span style="color:black; font-family:Monotype Corsiva;">Kalliauer</span>]] - <small>[[Special:Contributions/JoKalliauer|contrib.]]</small> 17:51, 1 December 2021 (UTC)
::{{ping|JoKalliauer}} Thank you. It worked.--[[User:Kun Kipcsak|Kun Kipcsak]] ([[User talk:Kun Kipcsak|talk]]) 20:06, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

== Artifacts when using feSpecularLighting and feDistantLight ==

[[File:Blokus_tiles.svg|thumb|Note black pixels around shapes]]
Hi SVG experts,

I just created this image using an SVG filter to simulate 3D tiles. Strangely, the shapes are surrounded by black pixels. Anyone seen this or know a fix?

Thanks,<br />'''[[User:cmglee|cm&#610;&#671;ee]]'''&#9094;[[User_Talk:cmglee|&#964;a&#671;&#954;]] 23:31, 2 December 2021 (UTC)